REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Various Indonesian special culinary products had gone international, and some gained popularity among world leaders, such as US President Barack Obama, who liked bakso or meat ball soup, stated Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya.
"The presence of many Indonesian restaurants in various countries is a testament to the fact that Indonesian delicacies are popular at the global level," the minister remarked in Jakarta on Monday.
Yahya noted that Indonesian culinary products were not inferior to those of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia as Indonesia's delicacies were varied. Indonesia needs to now package them, so they would have huge commercial and cultural value.
The minister cited as an example the presence of Indonesian dishes in Hefei, Anhui, China, where the "Wonderful Indonesia" slogan was also echoing. The "Wonderful Indonesia" restaurant serves at least 30 national iconic dishes as part of its main menu.
"As many as 20 million packs of 'kerupuk udang' (shrimp cracker) were put in the market for sale in China," Minister Yahya noted.
Indonesian culinary products gained greater popularity after three books on the country's culinary arts were successfully nominated for the "Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2016."
The nomination for the award, which was initiated by Edouard Cointreau and Remy Martin, is a form of recognition and appreciation for the authors and publishers of books on cuisines and cultures of the world, he added.
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